ior and he prided himself on being a "Native Son of the Golden
West." He was a clerk in an insurance office on California Street, and
had never been out of the state.

For the rest he was a good enough fellow and the three others liked him
very much. He had a curious passion for facts and statistics, and his
pockets were full of little books and cards to which he was constantly
referring. He had one of those impossible pocket-diaries, the first half
dozen pages loaded with information of every kind printed in blinding
type, postal rates to every country in the world, statistics as to
population and rates of death, weights and measures, the highest
mountains in the world, the greatest depths of the ocean. He kept a
little book in his left-hand vest pocket that gave the plan and seating
capacity of every theatre in the city, while in the right-hand pocket
was a tiny Webster's dictionary which was his especial pride. The
calendar for the current year was pasted in the lining of his hat,
together with the means to be employed in the resuscitation of a
half-drowned person. He also carried about a "Vest Pocket Edition of
Popular Information," which had never been of the slightest use to him.

The room in which they were now seated was very small and opened
directly upon the passage. On either side of the table was a seat that
would hold two, and on the wall opposite the door hung a mirror, its
gilt frame enclosed in pink netting. The table itself was covered with a
tolerably clean cloth, though it was of coarse linen and rather damp.

There were the usual bottles of olives and pepper sauce, a plate of
broken crackers, and a ribbed match-safe of china. The sugar bowl was of
plated ware and on it were scratched numberless dates together with the
first names of a great many girls, "Nannie," "Ida," "Flossie."

Between the castor bottles was the bill of fare, held by a thin string
between two immense leather covers which were stamped with wine
merchants' advertisements. Geary reached for this before any of the
others, saying at the same time, "Well, what are you going to have?
_I'm_ going to have a Welsh rabbit and a pint of ale." He looked from
one to the other as if demanding whether or no they approved of his
choice. He assumed the management of what was going on, advising the
others what to have, telling Vandover not to order certain dishes that
he liked because it took so long to cook them. He had young Haight ring
for the